Growing The

Texas
TALENT POOL

LEAD EXPLORERS

By leveraging Texas A&M’s existing expertise and resources, we’ll make new discoveries, technological innovations and health advances. And we’ll grow the Texas talent pool until it’s deep at both ends, further developing the workforce. Bringing together stakeholders from civilian, commercial and defense space, to become a leader in space.

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Texas A&M Space Institute Director 

Nancy J. Currie-Gregg, Ph.D. 

Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle
Nancy Currie-Gregg serves as the Texas A&M University Space Institute Director where she is responsible for leading, servicing and support of an evolving space economy, providing Texas with strategic planning and research accomplishments, workforce development and training, and a holistic approach to broadening statewide engagement and promoting growth in all sectors related to the Texas space economy.
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Nancy J. Currie-Gregg, Ph.D. 

Texas A&M Space Institute Director 
Professor of Engineering Practice 
Industrial and Systems Engineering & Aerospace Engineering 
Texas A&M University, College of Engineering

Prior to joining Texas A&M University in the fall of 2017, Dr. Currie-Gregg spent the vast portion of her career supporting NASA’s human spaceflight programs and projects. Selected as an astronaut in 1990, she accrued 1000 hours in space as a mission specialist on four space shuttle missions– STS-57 in 1993; STS-70 in 1995; STS-88, the first International Space Station assembly mission, in 1998; and STS-109, the fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, in 2002. A retired U.S. Army Colonel and Master Army Aviator, she logged over 4,000 flying hours in a variety of rotary- wing and fixed-wing aircraft. Following the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2002, she led the Space Shuttle Program Safety and Mission Assurance Office directing safety, reliability, and quality assurance efforts enabling the safe return to flight of the Space Shuttle in 2005. She was then selected as a senior executive member of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, serving for over a decade as the Chief Engineer at the Johnson Space Center, then as Principal Engineer. 

Dr. Currie-Gregg received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from The Ohio State University, a master of science in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, and a doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Houston. Among her many awards and honors are the U.S. Government Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Senior Professional; NASA’s Exceptional Service, Distinguished Service, Outstanding Leadership, and four Spaceflight Medals; the Defense Superior Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit, and Defense Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. She is a member of the Army Aviation Hall of Fame, Women in Aviation International Hall of Fame, Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame, Ohio Veteran’s Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the distinguished alumni award from The Ohio State University and the University of Houston’s College of Engineering. 

Texas A&M Space Institute Associate Director

Robert O. Ambrose, Ph.D.

Robert O. Ambrose retired from NASA in 2021 and accepted an endowed chair at Texas A&M, as the J. Mike Walker “66 Chair in Mechanical Engineering, with courtesy appointments in the Aerospace and Electrical Engineering Departments.  He serves as the Texas A&M Space Institute Associate Director, Texas Engineering Experiment Station Director for Space and Robotics Initiatives, and the Associate Director of Space and Robotics Research at the Bush Combat Development Complex on Texas A&M’s RELLIS Campus.  
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Robert O. Ambrose, Ph.D.

Texas A&M Space Institute Associate Director
University Distinguished Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Member, National Academy of Engineering
Director for Space and Robotics Initiatives, TEES

 Dr. Ambrose received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in Mechanical Engineering and his M.S. and B. S. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis.  He has worked as a researcher in academia (UT Austin), as an engineer at an FFRDC (MITRE), and as a project leader at a small startup company (Metrica, Inc), then for over 20 years in government. 
 
With NASA’s Johnson Space Center from 2000-2021, he served as a Project Manager, Branch Chief and later as the Division Chief for the Software, Robotics and Simulation Division.  Dr. Ambrose’s Division supported the International Space Station (ISS), software and simulation for the Space X, Boeing and Orion Spacecraft, and the development of exercise equipment, wearable robotics and jetpacks used by astronauts in space.  He led the design of futuristic machines like Robonaut, the Chariot rovers, Centaur, Valkyrie, MRV, Resource Prospector / VIPER rovers, and the LTV Rover that are paving the way for space exploration.  Dr. Ambrose also served for 7 years at NASA Headquarters as the Principal Technologist for Robotics and Autonomous Systems.
 
He has built coalitions with dozens of commercial partners, universities and US government agencies. His work as a founding member of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) with the White House has propelled the U.S. back into the lead for robotics. He has received three NASA medals for Leadership and Technical Achievement, two Government Invention of the Year Awards, and General Motor’s Most Valuable Colleague Award. Dr. Ambrose retired as a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES), was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and currently serves as the IEEE-RAS Vice President for Industrial Activities. He is married to Dr. Catherine Ambrose with homes in Texas and Colorado.